The relevant section of the letter says Met Police officers have "seized a huge amount of material and taken a large number of witness statements".

"After an initial assessment of that information, the officer leading the investigation has today notified the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenancy Management Organisation that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that each organisation may have committed the offence of corporate manslaughter under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007," it said.

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Media captionNew Kensington and Chelsea council leader Elizabeth Campbell: "I will co-operate in any way I possibly can"

The Met Police also released a statement on Thursday, stating that its investigation into the cause and spread of the fire was a "complex and far reaching investigation that by its very nature will take a considerable time to complete".

"We fully support the Metropolitan Police investigation and we will co-operate in every way we can," Ms Campbell added.

"It would not be appropriate to comment further on matters subject to the police investigation."

Call for 'justice'

BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds says the Met Police has briefed a number of times that corporate manslaughter is a possible offence, along with breaches of health and safety laws.

The effect of what the police have said is to put both organisations on notice that their senior executives are likely to be questioned under caution in relation to the fire.

This means that evidence can be used against both bodies in a court, our correspondent added.

Labour MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, whose friend Khadija Saye died in the fire, said the punishment for corporate manslaughter, a fine, would not "represent justice for the Grenfell victims and their families".

"Gross negligence manslaughter carries a punishment of prison time, and I hope that the police and the CPS are considering charges of manslaughter caused by gross negligence," he added.

Improved trust

Yvette Williams, a co-ordinator at the Justice 4 Grenfell campaign group, said the development would help increase levels of trust between the police and the community.

"However, what we would like to see running alongside that is individuals being prosecuted. We want is individuals named and prosecuted - you can have both, but we don't want corporate manslaughter on its own," she added.

Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Kensington and Chelsea Council has been criticised for its response to the Grenfell fire